Declaring Variables

In most cases, you do not have to worry about specific variable types when using DAL. Unqualified names are considered string variables and DAL automatically converts the type, depending upon the use. You can, however, force a variable to be something other than a string type by using a specific name qualifier.

Qualifier

Description

$myFloat

The $ denotes that this is a floating point number.

#myInteger

The # denotes that this is an numeric integer.

%myHandle

The % denotes that this is a numeric handle. No conversions should be done on this when used in DAL.

Handle type variables are the exception when it comes to conversions. DAL cannot convert the other variable types into a handle type and a handle type cannot be converted into the other types. For any function that requires a %variable as a parameter, you must specify that type of parameter.